2.11.2007

The year of 2007 shall now be deemed WEDDINGPALOOZA. You see I’ve already received 6 wedding invitations that span over the next 4 months. I’ve been quite comfortable over the last two years attending a wedding here or there, but with so many so close to each other this might call for additional evening wear. Ok, these occasions definitely call for additional evening wear especially since many folks WILL BE crossover engagements.

It just kind of amazes me that there seems to be to wave of weddings of my friends as of late, but I guess there is an ebb and flow cycle for these events too.

My last big wave of weddings was about 3-4 years ago. I definitely spent a lot of time traveling the wedding circuit (and utilizing my frequent flyer miles) to attend weddings of old friends, new friends, and family. Occasionally I even had to decline some invitations because weddings fell on the same day, were in too exotic of locations or it conflicted with family commitments. What I can say though is that many of those marriages I witnessed or miss out on have proved to be fruitful producing many a bouncing baby girl or boy.

The weddings on my future agenda will each have their own special meaning. I will watch friends from elementary school, high school, coworkers (past and present) and friends from various other stages of my life brave a new-fangled frontier with folks who’ve engaged them in the game of their lives.

I wish them all the best of luck and the ability to continue to spread the joy/love that they’ve shed onto my life into their future nuptials. And who knows maybe this weddingpalooza will bring me something new, borrowed or blue.

2.07.2007

As most of ya'll know I'm a music fanatic, but did you know I occasionally am an Apple freak. I love my powerbook and my various evolutions of Ipods. Don't get me wrong you can do pretty much everything on a PC too, but Apple is just so, dare I say it, user friendly!

My Apple products have always been easy and fast to use. And I'm never really worried about it catching some sort of crazy virus (that PC always seem to encounter) either. Plus Apple is SO creative about their products and how they go about launching them. Indeed they are a marketing machine/dream to aspire to be…

But unfortunately things might start to get real ugly, real quick for Apple and Itunes over digital rights management. This involves my favorite subject – MUSIC. Digital Rights Management (also referred to in the media industry as DRM) is the process that Apple and other companies use to a. license the music we download from big music companies and b. controls how we use that music once it’s been downloaded.

In lay terms this means that once the music is purchased and downloaded, that music downloaded (MP4 file) can only play it on a certain number of computers and/or burn it to a an audio CD a certain number of times.

Apple in my humble opinion seems to have done a very ethical and fair job of DRM. They’ve been fair to the big music companies and artists with the licensing agreements for the music. I’m just sad they can’t license everything out there (see some people don’t want to play fair still).

Plus the consumers are winning too. You can download exactly what you want - one song or the whole album. Gone are the days of buying an entire album just to listen to track #4 (again and again).

All this being said, I’m not trying to advertise or promote the use of Itunes. I’m just trying to get us all to contemplate the benefits of how they manage their current DRM and the effects this could have on our future downloading habits. I believe it’s an interesting debate with our current growth toward technology.

2.06.2007

Yes, the BLOG duties were neglected for one week! See I admit it, some things are easier said then done, especially when you’re dealing with those darn new years resolutions. If you're keeping a scorecard on my resolutions or other things in my life, check out the my list of other ignored items off my to do list from last week:

Sweep the house

Make the bed

Unload and load the dishwasher (that sink gets full awfully fast)

Pay bills

Return rented movies

Return phone calls/e-mails

But really, who's counting during this month? What's a girl like me to do when February rolls in and chaos consumes my waking hours! First off this month shortchanges us a few days to complete any and all tasks.

Secondly my current position is the equivalent to racehorse being pumped full of steroids to win the race. It always starts out with good intentions of just finishing the race first, but inevitably it leaves the workhorse crippled, strung out and flailing as the finish line becomes visible. And the finish may not always be graceful, but eventually the pressure of the race does subside.

This faltering feeling leads to my hesitation to fully embrace the month of February. So just try and trot out Puxatawny Phil or those tiny candy hearts to entice me into a better mood. It’s not going to make a dent until February completely unfolds.

I will however jam out to my new power pop/rap mix (which inspired and infused by kids this weekend) :